The present invention relates to a thermomechanical analyzer for measuring mechanical characteristics of materials as a function of temperature and time.
Conventionally, in such type of analyzer, the dynamic viscoelasticity of a sample piece is measured by directly detecting and analyzing the amplitude ratio and phase difference between a stress signal and a strain signal. In another method, the dynamic viscoelasticity is measured by reading a Lissajous pattern indicated on a stress-strain coordinate plane.
Prior art devices of this type exhibit various drawbacks, such as complicated and troublesome processing for obtaining a measured value of dynamic viscoelasticity. For example, it is difficult to accurately detect the phase difference between the stress signal and the strain signal in the first-mentioned conventional device. With regard to the second conventional device, geometrical computation is needed during each period for reading of the Lissajous pattern.